Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a wiper arm arrangement with a wiper arm of a windscreen wiper system of a vehicle and with an attachment element having at least one line. The attachment element can be coupled to a connecting element designed for holding a wiper blade and for connecting the wiper blade to the wiper arm. By coupling the attachment element to the connecting element, at least one corresponding line of the connecting element can be joined onto the at least one line of the attachment element. The connecting element can be fitted onto the attachment element in an installation direction coinciding at least substantially with a direction of longitudinal extent of the wiper arm. Furthermore, exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a method for connecting a wiper blade to a wiper arm of a windscreen wiper system of a vehicle.
German patent document DE 10 2008 049 269 A1 describes a connection of a wiper blade to a wiper arm via an adaptor coupled to two channels made in the wiper blade for washer fluid. The washer fluid coming from the wiper arm is led via the adaptor into the wiper blade. The adaptor is fitted onto the wiper arm together with the wiper blade in the direction of longitudinal extent of the wiper arm and is therefore joined to a joining plug that is fixed in the wiper arm. An upper part of the adaptor is connected in articulated fashion to a lower part of the adaptor via a pivot bolt that is passed through the lower part of the adaptor. Two pieces of hose, which take the washer fluid out of the lines running in the direction of longitudinal extent of the wiper arm in the upper part of the adaptor, are arranged on a front side of the upper part of the adaptor. Via the two flexible pieces of hose having a loop, the washer fluid is passed to the two channels running in the direction of longitudinal extent of the wiper blade.
German patent document DE 10 2008 021 457 A1 describes a wiper blade that can be fixed on a wiper arm of a windscreen wiper system by means of a two-part adaptor. Two joining lines are fixed to the wiper arm, which joining lines are connected to two channels arranged on an upper part of the adaptor if the adaptor together with the wiper blade is inserted from the front, in other words in the direction of longitudinal extent of the wiper arm, into an end region of the wiper arm. The upper part of the adaptor is supported in articulated fashion on a pivot bolt passing through a lower part of the adaptor. On the lower part of the adaptor are likewise formed two channels for washer fluid via which lines running along the wiper blade can be charged with washer fluid.
It is to be considered disadvantageous here that it is comparatively difficult for a mechanic to connect the wiper blade to the wiper arm via the adaptor.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are directed to a wiper arm arrangement and a method of the kind specified at the beginning which makes it easier to connect the wiper blade to the wiper arm.
The wiper arm arrangement according to the invention comprises a wiper arm of a windscreen wiper system of a vehicle and an attachment element having at least one line. The attachment element can be coupled to a connecting element designed for holding a wiper blade and for connecting the wiper blade to the wiper arm. By means of the coupling, at least one corresponding line of the connecting element can be joined onto the at least one line of the connecting element. The connecting element can be fitted onto the attachment element in an installation direction that is at least substantially the same as a direction of longitudinal extent of the wiper arm. The attachment element is arranged here on the wiper arm so as to be movable in the direction of longitudinal extent of the wiper arm. The attachment element can therefore be moved particularly near to one end of the wiper arm from which the connecting element can be inserted into the wiper arm. Here, that is to say near the end of the wiper arm, the attachment element is then particularly easily accessible, as a result of which the connecting element can be coupled particularly easily to the attachment element.
When the wiper blade is being removed from the wiper arm, the connecting element can likewise be separated particularly easily from the attachment element if the attachment element is nearer to the end of the wiper arm than is the case in an operational position or functional position of the attachment element. In the functional position, the lines of the attachment element and of the connecting element are coupled to one another and the wiper arm can guide the connecting element, which is holding the wiper blade, securely over the windscreen to be wiped.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, when coupled to the connecting element, the attachment element can be moved in the direction of longitudinal extent of the wiper arm through movement of the connecting element. This is because the connecting element is easily accessible and is therefore particularly easily to handle by a mechanic. It is therefore favorable if the mechanic, by pulling the connecting element or by pushing the connecting element, can displace the attachment element along the wiper arm in the direction of longitudinal extent thereof.
It is also advantageous if an end region of the wiper arm has at least one latch opening in which, in a functional position of the connecting element, a corresponding latch element of the connecting element can be received. Such latching of the latch element in the latch opening secures the connecting element in its position in relation to the direction of longitudinal extent of the wiper arm. By bringing the latch element into engagement in the latch opening, the functional position of the connecting element is clearly definable. The latching of the latch element in the latch opening can also be clearly heard and felt, that is to say haptically detected, by the mechanic. In particular, if the latch opening is arranged in a back of the wiper arm, the latching of the latch element in the latch opening can also be visually identified particularly easily by the mechanic.
It has proven advantageous here if at least one latch element arranged on the attachment element can be brought into the at least one latch opening arranged in the end region of the wiper arm by bringing the attachment element into an installation position. The mechanic can then easily tell whether the attachment element is in the installation position in which the connecting element can be fitted onto the attachment element or the connecting element can be removed from the attachment element. In the installation position, the attachment element is also secured in position by the latching of the latch element into the latch opening (which can be heard and felt).
In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, when the attachment element is brought into the installation position, the attachment element is taken to a guide on the wiper arm before the at least one latch element of the attachment element engages in the corresponding latch opening arranged in the end region of the wiper arm. The guide ensures that the attachment element can be moved particularly easily in the direction of longitudinal extent. The guide also prevents the attachment element from being able to move out of the end region of the wiper arm in an undesired direction, in particular downwards.
It has proven to be even more advantageous here if, when the attachment element is fixed on the wiper arm in the installation position, the connecting element can be detached from the attachment element by further movement of the connecting element in the direction of longitudinal extent of the wiper arm. This makes it possible to ensure that the connecting element can only separate from the attachment element if the attachment element has reached its installation position and is fixed in this installation position. When attachment element and connecting element are separated, corresponding latch elements can be disengaged from one another because this can be heard and felt particularly easily by the mechanic.
In order to predetermine the installation position particularly reliably, the wiper arm arrangement can comprise at least one stop which limits the movement of the attachment element in the direction of longitudinal extent of the wiper arm when the attachment element is brought into the installation position.
The at least one line is preferably designed to carry washer fluid and/or heat into the connecting element. The washer fluid and/or heat can then be carried further into the wiper blade via the connecting element. If washer fluid can be carried into the connecting element via the at least one line, it is possible to apply washer fluid to the windscreen to be wiped via the connecting element or via the wiper blade. This makes it possible to use the washer fluid particularly sparingly, in other words to provide for a particularly small dosage of washer fluid to clean the windscreen. In addition, if the washer fluid is discharged from the connecting element or directly from the wiper blade no jet of washer fluid is applied to the windscreen a long time before it is wiped, which would obstruct the vehicle user's view through the windscreen.
If the line is designed to carry heat into the connecting element and from the latter on into the wiper blade, heating the wiper blade can prevent the wiper blade from freezing to the windscreen in winter. It is therefore also possible to ensure particularly quiet wiping of the windscreen because a blade rubber arranged on the wiper blade can be kept, through heating, within a temperature range in which it can flex comparatively easily and the blade rubber moves particularly quietly during wiping of the windscreen.
If the line is designed to carry both washer fluid and heat into the wiper blade, the region of the wiper blade carrying the washer fluid can also be prevented from freezing up through heating. The warm washer fluid can also be used to de-ice the windscreen.
In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the wiper arm arrangement comprises the connecting element. The connecting element has at least one latch element comprising a recess open in the installation direction, in which a journal arranged on the attachment element is received in a latched manner when coupled with the attachment element. The mechanic can therefore hear whether coupling with the attachment element has taken place, and likewise whether the connecting element has been unlatched if the latch element releases the journal arranged on the attachment element.
It is also particularly easy to adjust, through the layout of the recess open in the installation direction, the force with which the connecting element has to be pulled in order to separate the latter from the attachment element or the force that has to be used to couple the connecting element to the attachment element by pushing the connecting element in the installation direction. As a latch element, provision may be made in particular for what is referred to as an omega clip, the two arms of which at least engage under the journal when the connecting element is coupled with the attachment element or further enclose it, in particular completely.
In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention in which the wiper arm arrangement has the connecting element, the connecting element comprises an upper part arranged on the wiper arm, on which a lower part of the connecting element designed for holding the wiper blade is supported such that it can rotate about a rotational axle. This allows a relative movement of the lower part with respect to the upper part arranged on the wiper arm. As a result, the wiper blade can match the course of the usually curved windscreen surface if the wiper arm moves the wiper blade over the windscreen of the vehicle.
Inserting the connecting element into the end region of the wiper arm can be made easier by an insertion element, for example an insertion chamfer, which can be formed on the lower part of the connecting element. This makes it easier to fit the connecting element onto the wiper arm and remove the connecting element or the wiper blade coupled to the connecting element.
Finally, it has proven advantageous if at least one stop of the upper part is in abutment with the wiper arm when the connecting element is in the functional position. This enables the mechanic to tell particularly reliably whether the functional position has been reached. Additionally or alternatively, at least one lower side of the upper part can rest on a guide provided on the wiper arm when the connecting element is in the functional position. In this way, the connecting element, when in the functional position, is prevented from working loose downwards from the wiper arm.
In the method according to the invention for connecting a wiper blade to a wiper arm of a windscreen wiper system of a vehicle, an attachment element having at least one line is coupled to a connecting element designed for holding the wiper blade and for connecting the wiper blade to the wiper arm. By coupling the attachment element to the connecting element, at least one corresponding line of the connecting element is joined onto the at least one line of the attachment element. The connecting element is fitted onto the attachment element in an installation direction coinciding at least substantially with a direction of longitudinal extent of the wiper arm. The attachment element coupled to the connecting element is moved in the direction of longitudinal extent of the wiper arm. A similar movement of the attachment element along the wiper arm also takes place when the wiper blade is removed from the wiper arm, wherein the attachment element coupled to the connecting element is moved in the opposite direction, that is to say towards the end of the wiper arm. This method allows the wiper blade to be connected more easily to the wiper arm and the wiper blade to be removed more easily from the wiper arm.
The advantages and preferred embodiments described in respect of the wiper arm arrangement according to the invention also apply to the method according to the invention and vice versa.
The features and combinations of features specified in the description above and the features and combinations of features specified in the description of the figures and/or in the figures only below can be used not only in the combination specified in each case, but also in other combinations or on their own without falling outside the scope of the invention.